Back in September, when Capcom formally announced Monster Hunter 3G at a Nintendo press conference, it also showed first footage of Monster Hunter 4, also for the 3DS. While many assumed this footage was just concept footage, it's actually real gameplay footage, Capcom's Kaname Fujioka reveals in a new Iwata Asks column.

The Iwata Asks column was focused on Monster Hunter 3G, which Fujioka is directing. However, towards the end, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata asked a few questions about MH4.

Regarding the September video, Iwata noted that many were wondering how Capcom would be able to make the scenes shown in the video playable. While Fujioka did not share any gameplay specifics about 4, he replied that the footage was real time footage of the game being played by the staff.

Development on 3G and 4 have been progressing simultaneously, Fujioka and Monster Hunter series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto told Iwata. However, the 4 team has learned a lot from 3G's development, both in terms of working with the 3DS hardware, and a few development paradigms as well.

3G's development took place over a relatively short time, forcing the team to continuously show results. There was also a feeling of speed about 3G's development, almost to the point where they'd say "if you're not sure, just put it in."

For 4, the staff is under a considerable amount of pressure, and Fujioka feels that if they were to carry out development as they have in the past, there is the possibility that they would fail. So, they feel the importance of, as with MH3G's development, continuously showing results. The September trailer was one of the first example of a showing a result for MH4.